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The Morning Ledger: Bernanke Won’t Budge on Bond Buying

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David Hall

Feb 27, 2013 6:55 am ET

Ben Bernanke isn’t budging in his support for continued bond buying. “Keeping long-term interest rates low has helped spark a recovery in the housing market and has led to increased sales and production of automobiles and other durable goods,” he said in his semiannual report to Congress yesterday. Mr. Bernanke faced some hostile questioning from the Senate Banking Committee – particularly from Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.), who told the Fed chief that his easy-money policies were sparking a global currency war and creating “faux” stock-market wealth. He also accused Mr. Bernanke of “throwing seniors under the bus” by pushing down interest rates and reducing their returns on savings. Mr. Bernanke was pretty perturbed by those comments, the WSJ’s Jon Hilsenrath notes. He shot back by pointing out that his record of keeping inflation low and stable is better than that of any Fed chairman since World War II.

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